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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Is nuclear power a sustainable or safe solution to ongoing energy demands around the world? Fairewinds’ Arnie Gundersen was invited to speak in August at the WAVE conference sponsored by Life Chiropractic College West. More than 1600 chiropractors attended the conference near San Francisco, California to hear speakers like Arnie Gundersen and Erin Brockovich talk about speaking truth to power. Leading chiropractic educators were also joined by mind-body experts including Larry Dossey, MD, a leading proponent of the power of intention to heal; epigenetic pioneer Bruce Lipton, PhD; and Lynne McTaggart, author of The Field; as well as ADHD Nation author Alan Schwarz.

Arnie spoke about the four problems that will be created worldwide by building more nuclear plants. As you will see in the video, Arnie is using the iPad app Keynote for his TED-like presentation.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Workers try to save Fukushima No. 1 reactor through venting mission

Less than 12 hours after the quake-triggered tsunami hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex on March 11, 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Co. sought government approval for the unprecedented step of releasing radioactive steam from troubled reactors to reduce a dangerous buildup of pressure.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan, however, would soon become increasingly distrustful of TEPCO because of delays in starting the so-called venting operations, which were aimed at preventing damage to the reactor containment vessels.

"TEPCO said it wanted to do venting. So I told TEPCO to do it, but it didn't," Kan recalled. "I asked why, but there wasn't a reply. I thought things would go wrong if they kept going on like this."

Frustrated by TEPCO's response, the 64-year-old prime minister said in front of reporters early in the morning on March 12 that he planned to speak directly with the person responsible at the Fukushima Daiichi plant to find out exactly what was going on.

On his way to the plant on board a Self-Defense Forces helicopter, Kan bombarded Haruki Madarame, 62, a nuclear adviser to the government, with questions, such as what would happen if a reactor core melted and whether there could be an explosion.

Kan arrived at the plant shortly after 7 a.m. But he had no idea at the time that fuel was already melting in the No. 1 reactor.

Yoshida explained that the power to remotely operate valves for venting the No. 1 reactor had been lost and that workers would quickly need to manually operate the valves because of the rising radiation level inside the reactor building.

"We will do the venting. We will do it even if we have to form a suicide corps," Yoshida said. ....

In June 2012, TEPCO found the radiation level near the No. 1 reactor's suppression chamber stood at up to 10,300 millisieverts per hour, a level highly likely to be fatal if a person stays there for an hour.

Endo's team was tasked with three missions -- to open the valve, to measure the radiation level inside the reactor building, and to return safely.

After opening the door to the reactor's building, the reading on Endo's radiation measurement device jumped to 500 millisieverts per hour. As he lit up the inside of the building with a flashlight, he saw it was filled with what looked like steam or dust...

They heard a series of large bangs in the dark -- a type of noise Endo had never heard before. The radiation meter went back and forth between 900 and 1,000 millisieverts per hour...

If the radiation level was 1,000 millisieverts per hour, Endo would have exceeded the 100-millisievert radiation dose limit a nuclear power plant worker is allowed to be exposed to in five years in just six minutes...

When the two returned to the main control room, all eyes turned to them.

"It failed. The radiation meter scaled out," reported Endo. As Endo unloaded his air tank and took off his mask, he found that he was drenched with sweat all over. During the 8-minute journey, Endo was exposed to 89 millisieverts of radiation, while his colleague was exposed to 95 millisieverts.

In June 2012, TEPCO found the radiation level near the No. 1 reactor's suppression chamber stood at up to 10,300 millisieverts per hour, a level highly likely to be fatal if a person stays there for an hour.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

he scientists point out that the isotopes are barely detectable -- trace amounts that remain well below the safety standards set by the EPA.

"You can't say there is absolutely zero risk because any radiation is assumed to carry at least some small risk," Delvan Neville, an Oregon State graduate research assistant and lead author of the study, said in a news release. "But these trace levels are too small to be a realistic concern."

"A year of eating albacore with these cesium traces is about the same dose of radiation as you get from spending 23 seconds in a stuffy basement from radon gas, or sleeping next to your spouse for 40 nights from the natural potassium-40 in their body," Neville added. "It's just not much at all."

CLIPS FROM THIS VIDEO

Michio Kaku, Mar. 18, 2014 (at 1:18:00 in): The agony of 3 simultaneous meltdowns in Northern Japan […] The accident is not over at all. A small earthquake will send the accident starting all over again. You will realize that the reactor is so radioactive workers cannot even get in for more than just a few minutes at a time. […] The next thing they want to do is insert cameras into the water to see where the melting is. It’s so bad, they don’t even have a picture of the melted core. We know it’s 100 percent melted. […] The agony is unending. […] Japan said we will go nuclear because we have no oil or coal, but there is a price you have to pay — that is, you sell your soul to the devil.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

from http://enenews.com/u-n-agency-fukushima-unit-2-burst-around-time-reactor-fuel-melted-soon-after-wind-switched-and-blew-radioactive-material-toward-tokyo-video

U.N. Agency: Fukushima Reactor 2 “burst” after fuel melted — Then radiation doses quickly hit highest levels of entire crisis for many places across region… went in almost every direction… then skyrocketed all at around same time (VIDEO)

United Nation’s World Meteorological Organization, updated June 2013: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) [received] a request from the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) to assist them with the meteorological aspects of a dose assessment from the radiological releases from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. [...] Light rain was observed from the 15th to the morning of the 17th due to a weak low pressure system which moved north eastward off the east coast of Japan. In particular, rain was observed in the Fukushima prefecture during the night from 1700 JST March 15 to 0400 JST March 16 [...] corresponding with significant emissions. [...] winds were from the west [blowing any Fukushima releases over the Pacific] until the morning of 15th, but changed to a direction from north northeast [in direction of Tokyo] during the daytime of the 15th, the time when the reactor number two container burst. [...] After 1500 JST, the winds turned to a direction from east southeast, and then changed to north [blowing releases south].

Wikipedia on Fukushima Unit 2 reactor: An explosion was heard after 06:14 JST on 15 March in Unit 2 […] The radiation level was reported to exceed the legal limit and the plant’s operator started to evacuate all non-essential workers from the plant. […] Soon after, radiation equivalent dose rates had risen to 8.2 mSv/h […] Three hours after the explosion, the rates had risen to 11.9 mSv/h […] Japanese nuclear authorities emphasized that the containment had not been breached as a result of the explosion and contained no obvious holes. In a news conference on 15 March the director general of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, said that there was a “possibility of core damage” at Unit 2 of less than 5%. [...] 27 March, TEPCO reported measurements over 1000 mSv/h in the basement of the Unit 2 turbine building, which officials reported was 10 million times higher than what would be found [TEPCO] retracted its report and stated that the figures were not credible [...] following the ensuing wave of media retractions that discredited the report worldwide, TEPCO [said it actually was] “more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour”, as originally reported, but the concentration of radioactive substances was 100,000 times higher than usual, not 10 million.

TV: Radioactive waste containers may be “smashed and opened” after roof collapse at leaking U.S. nuclear site — Official: We believe there’s been a breach… “It’s a very serious thing” — ‘Seismic event’ mentioned — High levels of alpha and beta radiation detected (VIDEO)

Carlsbad Current Argus, Feb. 20, 2014 (emphasis added): [...] the radiation leak occurred on the evening of Feb. 14, according to new information made public at a news conference Thursday afternoon. […] Joe Franco, manager of the DOE Carlsbad Field Office, said an underground air monitor detected high levels of alpha and beta radiation activity consistent the waste buried at WIPP. “We are assuming and believe that it is from one of our waste (sources) that we have underground […]” he added. […] It could be up to three or four weeks before workers can go underground to survey the possible source [...]

Reuters, Feb. 20, 2014: Airborne radioisotopes can be harmful if inhaled or swallowed. […] “Even though it’s well below levels established by the EPA to ensure protection of public health, it’s a very serious thing,” [Franco] said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. “WIPP is not intended to be in this kind of condition.” […] “Radiation is simply not supposed to be released outside this facility. It’s not supposed to be released inside the underground. Any type of release is unacceptable and disconcerting,” [Secretary of New Mexico Environment Department Ryan Flynn] said. […] Franco said indications suggest a drum or drums containing radioactive waste may have breached for reasons that are not yet known.

AP, Feb. 20, 2014: [...] could be weeks before workers can safely access the underground dump to determine what happened. […] It was the second incident in just a matter of weeks. Earlier this month, a truck hauling salt below ground caught fire [...] but Franco said it was unlikely the events were related. He also said there was no evidence of a seismic event at the site.

KRQE, Feb. 21, 2014: Federal and state agencies are scrambling to deal with the discovery of airborne radiation [...] one of the working theories right now is that a big slab of the roof broke free, hit the stack, knocked some drums off and smashed and opened one or more of them. [...] that is not supposed to happen in areas being actively worked by crews. It appears the leak occurred in an active work area [...]

Feb 27, 2014 - a container of waste leaked, but it could be weeks before they can get underground...Possible scenarios include a ceiling collapse or a forklift puncturing a.....Now we have nuclear waste and a fire in an underground salt mine.....with the Doh! idea for storing nuclear waste in salt caverns, in the first place.

Feb 22, 2014 - This is consistent with the nature of the nuclear waste stored in therepository.....After shaft leakage, such roof breaching is the next most common cause of.....disturbance helped that salt mine storage chamber roof collapse.

The Construction and Salt Handling Shaft, the Waste Shaft, the Air Intake Shaft...seams and anhydrite beds above and below the repository which can leak water. It is actually not at all uncommon for salt mines to become inundated with...rapid until the salt becomes brittle and the roof collapses causing subsidence and ...

Book Description

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake large enough to knock the earth from its axis sent a massive tsunami speeding toward the Japanese coast and the aging and vulnerable Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power reactors. Over the following weeks, the world watched in horror as a natural disaster became a man-made catastrophe: fail-safes failed, cooling systems shut down, nuclear rods melted.

In the first definitive account of the Fukushima disaster, two leading experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists, David Lochbaum and Edwin Lyman, team up with journalist Susan Q. Stranahan, the lead reporter of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Pulitzer Prize–winning coverage of the Three Mile Island accident, to tell this harrowing story. Fukushima combines a fast-paced, riveting account of the tsunami and the nuclear emergency it created with an explanation of the science and technology behind the meltdown as it unfolded in real time. Bolstered by photographs, explanatory diagrams, and a comprehensive glossary, the narrative also extends to other severe nuclear accidents to address both the terrifying question of whether it could happen elsewhere and how such a crisis can be averted in the future.

Review

"The book is a gripping, suspenseful page-turner finely crafted to appeal both to people familiar with the science and those with only the barest inkling of how nuclear power works. Even with the broad outlines of the story in the public record, the authors have uncovered many important details that never came to light during the saturation-level media coverage."—Kirkus Reviews

"Their thriller-like, minute-by-minute chronicle covers every harrowing technical breakdown, backed by briskly informative illuminations of the science underlying the boiling-water reactors and the systems designed to prevent their meltdown. They are equally precise in their coverage of the human side of the story, from the grave dangers confronting the plant’s valiant staff to the scrambling of public officials to the trauma of evacuees as explosions wracked Fukushima and radiation leaks increased. As the crisis at Fukushima continues, this exacting and chilling record of epic failures in risk assessment, regulation, preparedness, and transparency will stand as a cautionary analysis of the perils of nuclear power the world over."—Booklist (starred review)

"Anyone seriously interested in understanding the issues involved in delivering ‘safe’ nuclear energy will be rewarded by reading this book; anybody involved in delivering nuclear power should be required to read it."—Robert Gallucci, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

"It’s hard to imagine a more comprehensive and compelling account of what happened after an earthquake and tsunami struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011. There are lessons in this book for all of us. This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about nuclear power."—Robert J. Rosenthal, executive director of the Center for Investigative Reporting

"A compelling analysis of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima and a pointed challenge to the nuclear industry and its regulators."—Rush Holt, U.S. House of Representatives

"A riveting account of the unfolding of the Fukushima accident that gives the reader a feel for how hard it is to respond to an unprecedented catastrophe in the face of uncertainty."—Victor Gilinsky, former commissioner at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

"Everyone who cares about the Faustian bargain we make for nuclear energy must read this terrifying story."—David Suzuki, co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation and host of The Nature of Things

"This amazing book provides both a blow-by-blow account of the Fukushima accident and an exploration of what needs to be done worldwide to improve nuclear safety. Essential reading, whether you agree with all of its conclusions or not."—Matthew Bunn, professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government

"Gripping and authoritative, Fukushima opens a new chapter in the debate on the difficult and perhaps impossible goal of safe nuclear power."—Alexander Glaser, assistant professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

About the Author

David Lochbaum is the head of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Nuclear Safety Project and author of Nuclear Waste Disposal Crisis. He lives in Chattanooga. Edwin Lyman is a senior scientist in the Global Security Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists. He lives in Washington, D.C. Susan Q. Stranahan is the author of Susquehanna: River of Dreams. She lives in Maine. The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world.

CSI: Fukushima

TEPCO is behaving as though it is the victim of the largest industrial accident in the history of time rather than the perpetrator. Fairewinds Energy Education's Arnie Gundersen analyzes new leaks at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 and discusses TEPCO's negligence in not applying engineering rigor to its analysis of the leaks.Link to Fairewinds Speech at the New York Academy of Medicine: bit.ly/1lnUCEa